In this 1984 photo, Bob Schmitt holds aloft the trophy after the Jock Shop team won the modified softball national championship. Pictured at front right is Joe Mistretta and at back right is John Woodfield. All three men have been inducted into the Western New York Softball Hall of Fame in recent years. On Oct. 5, one more teammate will be enshrined when Terry Woodfield, standing left of Schmitt, will be so honored. Photo courtesy of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame

How much did Terry “Bags” Woodfield mean to the modified softball national champion Jock Shop teams of the 1980s?

Well, here’s just a small sampling of memories from his teammates:

Bob Schmitt: “He was the straw that stirred the drink.”

Rich Pinciaro: “He was the driving force.”

Younger brother John Woodfield: “We win absolutely nothing without him.”

The Western New York Softball Hall of Fame committee agrees.

On Oct. 5, Woodfield will join 16 others in the Class of 2024 at induction ceremonies at the Lake Erie Italian Club in Lackawanna.

“I think it’s a heck of an honor,” Woodfield said.

Based on how he controlled the game from behind the plate for two decades, his place among WNY’s best is certainly justified.

“He was just phenomenal, on top of everything all the time,” said Schmitt, who is a 2022 WNY Softball Hall of Fame inductee. “He was great at handling our pitchers, both when we played fast pitch and modified. He wasn’t the greatest hitter, but his defense was. No one could steal on him.”

Well, maybe just one.

“I played with him for 10 years,” said John Woodfield, who was inducted into the WNY Softball Hall of Fame in 2021, “and only one time did a guy steal second, and that’s because (second baseman and 2019 WNY Softball Hall of Fame inductee) Joe Mistretta and (shortstop) Bob Burns had a miscommunication on who was going to cover.

“The throws were always 5 inches off the bag on the first-base side. Every time. If they ran, they were out. I don’t care who you were, and he kept everybody in the game. He was a true leader.”

With athleticism, too.

“In bunt situations, I swear he could get the (bunted ball), pick it up and throw it to first base before the batter was out of the batter’s box,” Schmitt said. “That was phenomenal.”

Woodfield also had a sense of humor.

“We were in a tournament and we got squeezed by the ump,” Pinciaro recalled. “Bags took off his mask and asked him where the pitch was. The ump said, ‘It missed by a quarter-inch.’ So Bags turned his hat sideways and yelled, ‘A quarter of an inch!'”

And then Woodfield put his hat on correctly, yanked his mask back on his head, and the game continued with him orchestrating it all.

“He had leadership, brains, he knew how to run that infield and, of course, he got on the pitchers pretty good,” Pinciaro said. “He used to throw the ball back to Jim Brooks a million miles an hour. He was a motivator. The best.”

Woodfield, 77 and a Fluvanna resident, noted that his role was to “try and keep everybody focused.”

“That was pretty much the main thing for me,” he said. “I had a knack of knowing. When I wasn’t playing, I was going to scout other hitters.”

Noted John Woodfield: “He would see the lineup so he knew where to pitch guys, because he was so intelligent. He could tell by the way they stood (in the batter’s box).”

And, almost always, that meant an easy inning for Woodfield’s teams, including the Jock Shop-sponsored squad that came home with national titles in 1984 and 1985.

“I think of all the hard work and the fun we had,” said Woodfield, who began playing area softball, including on some exceptional fast-pitch teams, in 1966.

“The recognition you get is the end result. … You don’t win a couple national championships without hard work.”

The rest of the Class of 2024 are Katie Burd, Kip Evancho, Joel T. Grundy, Patrick D. Kerl, Mike Kolb, Rich Landers, Caitlin Lever-Jones, Greg Merkle, Jack Migliore, Mark J. Piatkowski, Chuck Righetti, Luis Segovia, Lynn Stoczynski, Richard Trudeau, Todd Wheeler and Sally Wood.